Sunlight on windows – St Dunstan in the East Church Garden, London
Hi,
Hope this finds you well.
I’m writing this in a sun-chequered room. It makes for a dozy warmth but I hope I can still get this done.
These are my responses to the free writing prompts that I published on the blog two days ago.
London – still as a picture – 16 April 2020
Hello,
I hope the days are being kind to you.
Today I’m really pleased to bring you some free writing by others. If you’ve never done free writing, you may be sceptical about the process, but I find it absorbing, in a good way. For me the best part about it is that nothing has to be perfect, and all you have to think about for small pockets of time, are a few words or ideas. Some days the ideas come more easily than others … like sketches in a notebook.
The first of the pieces below is by Saraswathi Sukumar, the writing friend who generously gives up her time to think of prompts and to lead our sessions, and the ones below that are by Leonie Bedford in Canada. Thanks to them, and to all who give it a go or perhaps just think about it, and a special thanks to Aunt Jean who first took up the challenge!
Spring in London – 6 April 2020
Hello from London where the streets are quiet – no sirens, no laughter, just lonely telephone calls taking their exercise in the sunshine. No shortage of sunshine either, soft and fresh, with a moon that gets bigger each night.
We’re all still indoors, households everywhere living separate ways of life, but hearing each other more loudly. It’s disconcerting – we’re together but apart, each of us caught up in new ways and in not knowing what’s next, while every day the media is full of trauma and courage.
Routine, they say – that’s what we need – so I do still try to get to my desk, to remind myself about the book I’m trying to write. The biggest help is the free writing sessions we do each week.
Last week we had a few more creative prompts from Saraswathi Sukumar. These ones really got me thinking. They weren’t the easiest to write but that can be helpful, and my responses, exactly as they were written, are below. Hope they’ll entertain, and may even inspire you to have a go.
The Phraser 